STARDOM RESTAURANTS

Most people know about my passion for food and I am often asked:

What really makes a «star restaurant»?

So much is written about the subject and yet how do you know a restaurant is stardom?

Off course , in this subject , as in most other, opinions spread out from one extreme to the other and while some people go out for dinner just for the food, others go for the whole combination of going out.

The menu does not always have to be written in french or abuse of the nouvelle cuisine or even be molecular cuisine , it has to do with the carisma and how long did the doors opened.

For me a perfect restaurant is a combination of:

food, service, the wine list , location and off course the atmosphere ... so many criterion's yet, it can be a simple Tratoria in Italy, simple grilled sardines outside in Portugal, fusion cuisine at Asia de Cuba , molecular cooking at El Bulli , great Japonese at Nobu - but one single word - excellence!

From the 50 best in the world , El Bulli is again ahead in the parade and 36 of the world's *** michelin are located in France.

I know this: Greatness is never effortless.

When people ask Ferran Adrià of Spain’s El Bulli if he’d dreamed he might one day be considered the world’s best chef, he replied, “Absolutely not. I never looked for this. It was not in the script. It wasn’t logical for a Spanish cook to think this.”

Here some of my stardom favorites:

1. Le Bernardin New York's internationally acclaimed four star seafood restaurant. The impeccable French service is the best. And then there's the chef, Eric Ripert, who, unlike most super-chefs , tends to stay in his kitchen and cook.
   
2. Villa Joya - Albufeira, Portugal 's single two michelin star restaurant. Wonderful location above the clouds, aboce the cliff. Welcome to Paradise.


3. I-Thai, at the Hempel in London boasts a stunning modern décor that firmly places it amongst the classiest in London. Fusion Italian and Thai is amongst my favorite places as it combines two of my favorite cuisines


4. S. Gabriel - Almancil Portugal - I will make soon a full article about this place that I specially love.
   
5. DOM in Brasil it is the only restaurant of latin american amongst the best in the world. Chef Alex Atala has found the perfect combination of brazilian ingredients and french classic cuisine.


6. NOBU London - I love all the NOBU restaurants for the atmosphere and the innovative japanese food but the Nobu in London is special and was the first Asian restaurant to receive a Michelin star.


7. River Cafe in NYC - mostly and above all for the incredible view of Manhattan skyline and the incredible wine list.


8. Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo avec Chef Alain Ducasse - located just besides the Monte Carlo casino and surrounded with history this is a unique location.
   
9. El Bulli in Roses Spain with Chef Ferrán Adriá - I have already explained on another post the reasons for this restaurant to be a stardom.

Nestling by the river and open to the sea...

... this is the proud and modern city of Porto.
Along the coast, holiday resorts and cosmopolitan beaches, busy ports like Matosinhos, with splendid seafood grilled open air , or traditional fishing towns.
Right next to Porto you can visit, in Vila Nova de Gaia, the lodges where Port wine is blended and aged and where you can taste the different varieties, or you may choose to take a river cruise along the Douro. Porto is Portugal´s second largest city and there is a certain feeling of rivalry towards Lisbon. But although its ancient roots have been preserved with pride, a modern and lively commerce makes it a thriving city and its traditional importance as an industrial center does not diminish the charm and character of its old quarters or even of the newer and busy avenues, shopping centers and quiet residential blocks.


The Cathedral area deserves to be explored, with its various monuments, such as the Renaissance church of Santa Clara, and the quarter of Barredo, which appears not to have changed since medieval times. The riverside quarter of Ribeira is also delightful, with narrow streets, typical houses and picturesque life-style: it has been recently restored and now includes fashionable restaurants and bars.


Lello & Irmão Bookstore - in 2008 The Guardian newspaper classified it as the third most beautiful bookshop in the world. The current builing dates from 1903 which was the time when it was re-launched by this two brothers. At that time, onw writer defined this bookstore as a temple to the divine worship of Emotion and Idea.





Equally lively and colourful is the market of Bolhão, where you can buy almost anything, but more elegant shops can be seen nearby, especially the jewelleries and leather goods shops in the Baixa (down-town).
UNESCO for the classification of the Oporto Historic Centre as Heritage of international importance.
Porto affords many other attractions, monuments and museums, as well as a cultural agenda which has been steadily improving. With a well-known gastronomy and hospitable population, it is also the starting point to explore the river Douro in an unforgettable journey upstream.



Clerigos tower , is without a doubt, Porto's most famous monument but the set of six bridges that link the south is its modern equivalent.



Porto is also known of its romantic hideaways, walks and escapes. Caminhos do Romântico.






Porto's living room is the café unlikely any other portuguese city, keeping with two hundred years of tradition, here café's are preserved and restored. Café Majestic on Rua Santa Catarina, is the king of all of the city's café's with its 1920's elegance.




Foz do Douro quarter - the sands don't extend very far. Porto beaches are urban , sandwiched between the rocks but giving a spetacular dance of waves and colours.

Avenida Brasil a weekend favorite for families to jog, play, walk or just enjoy sun at one of the many beach pavement cafés.



Two of the main cultural attractions of Portugal are found in Porto. The Serralves Contemporary Art Museum and Casa da Música , born in 2001 for the European Capital of Culture, Casa da Música has changed the city's arquitecture but also the musical panorama.

The art quarter - Miguel Bombarda is part of COOL PORTO programme, this small street joins together dozens of art galeries that monthly and simultaneously launch new exihbition capativating the interest of clients, dealers or just people with alternative ways of living.

The street also offers a great choice of restaurants, bookstores ,retro-cool furniture, alternative interior design, desig, music, etc

Tascas old fashioned taberns in Porto are a major institution. There are still some 80 old style taberns and they were often called as places of freedom , as it was here that working men on the 19th century would meet friends.